The office of Brad Miller, Representative for North Carolina's 13th District recently contacted NCSLA about meeting with NCSLA members and science leaders in his district for a STEM round table discussion. As a member of the US House Committee on Science, Space and Technology which oversees NASA, NSF and other areas related to science research and science education, the congressman was interested in getting feedback on how to increase the flow of students in NC to the STEM pipeline.

On October 20, 2011, twelve NCSLA members met with Congressman Miller at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences to talk about achievement, standards, funding, and assessment in science education. The meeting went very well and the Representative Miller left with information that will assist him in making informed decisions as he deals with issues in science education. In closing, he reminded us that "We all need to work at advocating for science education." We hope to see similar events with other members of Congress in the coming year.